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Messenger Adoption in Ukraine of a Law Regulating Electronic Commerce
In early June, Ukraine for the first time adopted as a basis a draft law containing provisions on electronic commerce, online trade and electronic money. 244 members of parliament cast their votes for this bill. After revisions taking into account the wishes of online trade market representatives, it will be considered in the second reading.
Olga Belkova, a deputy from the UDAR party, during the presentation of the bill emphasized that this law essentially consolidates market practices that have already become widespread. According to statistics, nearly 17 million citizens in Ukraine make purchases and order services on the Internet every year. The official market volume amounts to $2 billion per year, although this figure could reach tens of billions. But this is hindered by the uncertain status of electronic transactions, and the new law is intended to equate them with written ones.
The bill deals with the general principles of how this sphere operates, the set of rights and obligations of market participants, as well as the delineation of liability of sellers and providers of so-called temporary services, i.e., hosting and Internet providers, domain name registrars.
New terms are introduced into the legal framework: electronic commerce, electronic trade, electronic goods, online store, electronic transaction.
One of the legislative innovations is the recognition of the electronic transaction and its consequences at the level of law, as is done with other ways of concluding transactions. The Civil Code contains the concept of a “public offer”, but it has been applied to Internet transactions by analogy. Now that this method of making transactions, which has already become traditional for online trade, has found its representation in special legislation, it will be easier for courts and the tax authorities to assess the actions of the parties to a transaction.
If the bill is adopted, conducting transactions online will be possible with the help of a “one-time identifier”, a kind of code that will be sent to the buyer’s specified email address or phone number.
The bill has been under discussion for a year. In 2013, a parliamentary association was created to support it, headed by Olga Belkova.
This bill fits into the “Innovative Ukraine” program proposed to the new government by representatives of Ukraine’s IT market. The program also calls for simplifying the licensing procedure for electronic money and further developing the logistics sector.